Western Counties

Devonport Services 25

Okehampton 39

THE Plymothian drizzle abated shortly before 3pm allowing the hosts to kick-off with a stiff breeze behind them but in warm sunshine.

The kick was fielded deep by Okehampton but their downfield clearance failed to find touch. Devonport's newly signed centre Setareki Raumakita chipped through and Services were there in numbers to drive over wide out. A successful conversion put Devonport 7-0 up after two minutes.

Okehampton's pack had the edge in the set scrums and on ten minutes an infringement by the hosts gave Kevin Dennis the chance to score with a successful long-range penalty in front of the posts. Although losing Carl Poynton with an injury, the visitors appeared to have regained their composure. However, they gave away a penalty immediately from the restart which was converted off a post to make the score 10-3.

On 29 minutes a loose defensive kick from Services was fielded by full back Matt Dennis. He chipped ahead, gathered the ball and slipped it inside to centre Gareth Espin who trotted under the posts. The conversion was a formality and the scores were level.

Okehampton's pacy backs started to show what they could do with the ball and when the Services' backs were caught offside five minutes later, another Kevin Dennis penalty gave them a 13-10 which they took into the interval. However, with under ten minutes of the second period gone, a horrible defensive mix-up at the back of an Okehampton scrum allowed Services the easiest of tries to retake the lead 15-13.

It was then Okehampton's turn to come straight back with a pushover try from Tom McGratton after a five metre scrum awarded when Devonport had carried the ball over their own line. The conversion made it 20-15 to the visitors. The lead was cut to two points when Okehampton conceded a penalty for the backs being in front of Kevin Dennis when he launched a defensive kick downfield.

The visitors then ruthlessly killed off the game with some sparkling back play. Long-range scores from Luke Honeychurch, Rob Fishleigh and a second for Gareth Espin put the game out of Services' reach. All were scored as a result of excellent off-loading and support allied with speed of foot and thought. Stand-off Kevin Dennis was instrumental in all of them to once again cap an impressive personal performance.

A converted try at the death for Services made the final score 39-25 but the Okes had safely bagged the five points.